Aussie ELAN recommission

[europatek]

UPDATE-30MR10 - Work continues in ernest. New wishbones sourced, repaired around shocker hole, blasted and painted. Unfortunatley a broken seatbelt mount uncovered the common rotten lattice frame. Oh well, it's only fibreglasss and steel. Cut it out, makes new pieces and glass back in! Not a hard job really, just dusty and messy. I used Gary Andersons excellent post as a guide. Decided to remove only rotten steel and leave the rest well alone. Sourced some steel stocks and fabricated the new parts. Also had to reglass the inside of the sills first as some of the glass was a bit of a mess. I'm happy with the results. I used a few extra layers and some "double bias" woven matt overlapping about 100mm either side of the original sill join. It should be very stong and I won't have any hestitation to jack the car on it. Also reconditioned the centre console. Reassembly of the front end should start soon with a new set of poly bushes. Also completed the steering rack rebuild.

[europatek]

UPDATE - 17APRIL10 - Still more work continues in ernest. Lattice frame completed, welded and glassed back into the body. Removal of the parcelshelf and backboard trim uncovered some terrible seatbelt retractor mounts. Flattened exhaust pipe!!! Fitted by a so called Lotus specialist in the UK. Anyway.... threw them in the bin and fabricated some new ones of my own design. Also made up a key for the spare wheel so I'm not reliant on having a 1/2" spanner handy to remove the spare. Made up some new support brackets for the parcel shelf and installed a more robust angle to support the shelf/backboard interface join. Installed a small HMSL for some added safety. Fixed up the boot wiring. Removed miles of unwanted/unnessecary wiring for the antenna and installed it correctly with a support bracket and made up a wiring harness to suit. Thankfully the original wiring harness was in good shape. Also reglassed the boot floor to repair cracks from muffler grounding and for added strength. Another few steps towards a better car and registration.

[europatek]

UPDATE-17MAY10-Frontend pretty much completed and installed. I wasn't going to touch the springs and shocks but they now look terrible so will remove and refinish. Fitted the new seatbelt brackets and tidied up the wiring. Torn down the rear end and removed the diff. Same old story, degrease, sandblast, repair, replace, through away etc.... Looking forward to reassebly with new bushes and a CV conversion.

[europatek]

UPDATE 19JN10 - Still going! It's amazing how many small jobs you can find to do on an old car. All those 10min jobs that take 3 hrs each! I'm getting to the fun stuff now - reassembly. Started fitting up the rear end. Had the diff out and cleaned and painted. Replaced the rear UJ. Had to buy a pair of new rear "A" frames as the original ones were looking pretty tired. New bushes and a CV drive shaft conversion also. I'm sure Colin would have used CV's if they were cheap and plentiful in the day. Refitted the master cyls and a couple of new brake lines to the booster. Discovered the clutch master pushrod was too short so cut and shut two to make one and now have the pedals at the same height. Refitted the steering column and assembled the nose area with air horns, air filter etc...... Repainted the blackouts under the nose and rear end. Also refitted the fuel tank etc...... I wander how many more 10 min jobs I can find?!?!? Attached a few progress shots. Seeing this FHC come back to life is great. Another saved - with it's roof!

[RedS4]

Looking good! Is that the standard place for the coil? Mine is much higher up, just in front of the carbs. Your comment re the slave pushrod is interesting. I serviced my slave last weekend (put a new kit in it etc) and discovered my pushrod is adjustable for length...

[gordont]

Looking great, will be good to have another elan on the Australian roads.

[europatek]

UPDATE - 16JL10 - Progress has slowed a little as the winter cold bites, so little done after work as the shed is fridgid and I wait for opportunities over the weekend. I've just reset the tappets after taking the cams to be measured. I had been told the engine was sprint spec but the cams measured a fair bit hotter than that. 46/79-79/46 with 0.354" lift. Similar to an L1 or L2. The running clearances were out so with them set correctly now the engine should feel a little more lively and idle better. I've rehung the exhaust after making the forward bracket and fixing the rear one. Added doubler plates to strengthen the boot floor. Hanging the exhaust meant moving the axle stands to the sill area. This meant a test for my repaired sills and lattice. I'm happy to report that the car has been sitting on the sills all week with no adverse effects. Excellent! I also fitted a new front screen chrome trim, the carpets and console and new seatbelts. Fabricated a hard pipe for the heater run passed the steering column impact clamp to provide extra clearance and prevent the clamp rubbing through the hose. All the rearend parts are now reco'd and ready to install. Also taken the wheels spinners to be rechromed. Shouldn't be too long now before it's back on it's wheels. Whilst out touring in the Cortina visiting historic towns and shops I came across a couple of Australian sportscar magazines featuring Elans.
More soon............

[RedS4]

Looking good!! What brand and spec is your brake booster? I am having constant issues with my brakes (usually have to pump them to get a pedal despite numerous bleeds for air that isn't there)...

cheers

[europatek]

UPDATE - 05SE10 - Almost there! I couldn't put the car back on the road with ill fitting doors so decided on a full door rebuild. New hinge pins, reinforcement for the frame near the window motor, lube, adjust, fit and fettle until all was as good as it was going to be. The RHS was relatively straight forward. What I did notice was that the door aligned well with the body until the weight of the frame and hardware was added which twists the door and thus causes the heel to stand proud of the body. The door shell is not stiff enough. The LHS was alot more work and I decided to cut and shut the door shell to improve the fit and also build up material along the seal face. If I was respraying the car I would most probably start with a pair of new door shells. Repaired the door trims around badly cut speaker holes. Also refinished the front springs and shocks and finished assembling the rearend.

[europatek]

UPDATE - 05SE10 - A few more photos to explain the last post better.

[europatek]

UPDATE - Maiden voyage just completed! Initial results feel great. A few small items to finish and a few teething issues
to sort and it's done. The brakes are the main issue - well the booster I think. I just can't get a consistant pedal height. After repeated bleeding and also bleeding of the booster still no luck. Also booster seems to have a leak as the engine stumbles and slows with pedal application. To be honest I'm thinking of just removing it altogether. I sourced some CV drives shafts and for anyone thinking of this upgrade - do it! The car feels so much better.

[cabc26b]

You have done a 1st class job, I love your attention to detail. Now. go out and enjoy it.

G

[RedS4]

The brakes are the main issue - well the booster I think. I just can't get a consistant pedal height. After repeated bleeding and also bleeding of the booster still no luck.

Your car not only looks like mine, but acts like it , except I'm not having the engine issue with the brakes, just the need to sometimes pump the pedal to get it up. I will overhall the non-return valve and see if that improves things.

I hope our cars meet up one day - it will look like the reunion of sisters!

Actually you have done an excellent job and certainly set the bar for me and 8569 to aspire to.
Congrats etc...

[elansprint71]

Hi Matt,
I think your white Cortina would have been called "Cortina Super" in GB, the Supers had the Chrome trim along the sides just like yours & they were also available in twin tone paint.
The GT's were more often sold as 2 door Cars for the weight/stiffness advantages.
I know I'm way off Topic here; sorry.
John

I think that it would be Cortina 1500 Super and there would be a chrome v-shaped badge on that bonnet bulge proclaiming the fact. This version was also available as an estate which later came complete with plastic wood trim on the sides, in place of the chrome strips- absolutely dreadful.

[europatek]

In fact it is a Cortina GT in the photo. The ?Super? was never sold in Australia. What Australia and other markets outside the UK got was the ?Super GT? or more correctly the ?export GT? version that included the stainless body moulds of the Super. Further, 2 door GT?s were never sold here either except for a very few early examples bought in to qualify the cars for the touring car race series and the Bathurst race. The 4 door GT was the car the Ford Australia built and marketed along with a very special GT500 that was 2 door and built in 65? to qualify for Bathurst ? 110 examples only. Sorry off topic but felt it needed to be clarified as it?s my car you can see. Anyway, back to Elans...................